Prague, July 19 (CTK) – Czech Constitutional Court (US) judges will lose their immunity in case of misdemeanours they may commit, under a bill that the Senate passed on Thursday and that is yet to be signed into law by President Milos Zeman.
The upper house of parliament passed the bill by the votes of 52 out of 56 senators present.
In the early 2000s, a similar bill abolished this type of immunity for members of parliament.
The new bill provides for US judges to be accountable for their misdemeanours like all other citizens. At the same time, it enables the judges to apply for their misdemeanour to be dealt with within disciplinary proceedings.
Even if so, however, the disciplinary panel of judges will be able to punish a judge at fault in accordance with the law on misdemeanours, as is the case with MPs faced with disciplinary proceedings.
The present law does not enable other punishment than a rebuke to be imposed on a US judge within disciplinary proceedings.
Last year, US judge Radovan Suchanek faced a rebuke for speeding as a car driver.
The parliament abolished lawmakers’ immunity in case of a misdemeanour as of April 2002. The deputies and senators can choose whether to be punished like any other citizen for their road and other offences or whether their misdemeanour should be debated by the the lower- and upper houses’ immunity committees.
